Sentar (To Seat) — Full Conjugation

Sentar is one of the clearest examples in Portuguese of a verb whose reflexive and non-reflexive versions have distinct meanings. On its own, sentar is transitive: it means to seat someone, as in putting a baby into a high chair. With the reflexive pronoun, sentar-se means to sit (oneself) down — the ordinary, everyday sense of to sit. This is the form you want 99% of the time.

If you say vou sentar na cadeira, a native speaker will hear it as elliptical and probably understand, but it is not standard: the expected form is vou sentar-me na cadeira. This distinction is genuinely important — mixing the two up marks you immediately as a learner, and correcting it is one of the highest-value things you can do for your Portuguese.

The conjugation itself is straightforward: sentar is a fully regular -ar verb. The only thing to learn is the reflexive pronoun placement, which follows the standard rules of European Portuguese — pronouns attach to the end of the verb with a hyphen in affirmative main clauses (sento-me, senta-te, senta-se, sentámo-nos, sentam-se), but move in front of the verb in negatives, questions with certain words, and subordinate clauses (não me sento, onde te sentas, quando se sentou).

Header

Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Reflexive forms shown in parentheses for convenience. In affirmative main clauses, the pronoun follows the verb with a hyphen.

Notice that sentamos + nos becomes sentamo-nos — the final -s of the verb is dropped before the pronoun nos. This is a fixed rule for all -ar and -er and -ir verbs in the 1st plural with nos or vos.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Note the nós form: sentámos, with an acute accent on the á. This is how European Portuguese distinguishes the preterite from the present (both are sentamos in Brazilian spelling).

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

With a reflexive pronoun, the order is: tinha-me sentado (I had sat down) — the pronoun attaches to the auxiliary tinha, not to the participle.

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

With a reflexive pronoun, the future and conditional use mesoclisis in formal writing — the pronoun splits the verb: sentar-me-ei (I will sit down), sentar-se-ia (he/she would sit down). In modern everyday speech, Portuguese speakers avoid this construction and use ir sentar-se instead: vou sentar-me.

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

In subordinate clauses (after que, quando, etc.) the reflexive pronoun moves in front of the verb: espero que te sentes comigo (I hope you sit with me) — not sentes-te.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

The imperative of the reflexive sentar-se is where most learners stumble. Study this table carefully: in the affirmative, the pronoun follows the verb with a hyphen; in the negative, the pronoun moves in front.

Affirmative (sit down!):

Negative (don't sit down!):

Senta-te aqui! (informal, to a friend, child, or close family member). Sente-se, por favor (formal, to a stranger, client, or boss).

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Usage notes

Sentar vs. sentar-se — the central distinction

Sentar on its own is transitive: you seat someone or something else. A parent senta o bebé na cadeirinha — seats the baby in the high chair. A waiter sentou-nos à janela — seated us by the window (here sentar takes the direct object nos = us, and is not reflexive; someone was seated by someone else).

Sentar-se is reflexive: the subject sits themselves down. This is the ordinary sense of to sit down that English wraps up in a single unmarked verb.

Estar sentado vs. sentar-se — state vs. action

Sentar-se describes the action of sitting down. Estar sentado describes the state of being seated. Senta-te! = sit down (action). Está sentado! = he's sitting (state). Use the past participle sentado (which agrees in gender and number — sentado, sentada, sentados, sentadas) with estar to describe the resulting state.

Pronoun placement with sentar-se

This is a frequent point of confusion. The rules:

• Affirmative main clause: pronoun after the verb, with a hyphen: sento-me, senta-te, senta-se.
• Negative main clause: pronoun before the verb: não me sento, não te sentas, não se senta.
• After certain adverbs (já, ainda, sempre, nunca, também) and after question words: pronoun before. Já me sentei. Onde te sentas?
• Subordinate clause (after que, porque, quando, se...): pronoun before. Espero que te sentes aqui.
• With the negative imperative: pronoun before. Não te sentes aí.

Sentar-se à mesa, ao piano, ao volante

Sentar-se takes a + definite article to express sitting down at a table, piano, wheel, or other positional landmark. Sentar-se à mesa = to sit down at the table (to eat). Sentar-se ao volante = to take the wheel (of a car).

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Sentar is transitive: to seat someone. Sentar-se is reflexive: to sit down. The meaning you want for sit is almost always sentar-se.
• The verb itself is fully regular (-ar). The challenge is mastering reflexive pronoun placement, not the conjugation.
• In European Portuguese, the 1st plural preterite carries an acute accent: sentámos (we sat). The 1st plural present is sentamos (no accent). The accent is mandatory.
• With a reflexive 1st plural, the verb drops its final -s: sentamo-nos, sentámo-nos, sentemo-nos.
• Pronoun placement: after the verb in affirmative main clauses (senta-te), before the verb in negatives (não te sentes), questions with question words, adverbs like já / ainda / sempre, and all subordinate clauses (que te sentes, quando te sentares).
• Estar sentado / sentada = to be seated (state). Sentar-se = to sit down (action). Do not confuse them.
• Sentar-se à mesa = to sit down at the table (especially for a meal). Sentar-se ao volante = to take the wheel.